Streaming media devices are becoming more and more popular. Streaming media devices allow a user to browse, search, and watch media content on demand. However, the input mechanisms for these streaming media devices are often simple remote controls without keyboards that require a user to hunt and select individual text characters when entering a search query into a text input control (e.g., text input box). Thus, the process of providing textual input to these streaming media devices can be burdensome to the user.
Some streaming media devices have a corresponding application by which a user can provide text input using a virtual keyboard on the user's handheld device (e.g., smartphone, tablet computer, etc.). However, the user must install and invoke the application before being able to use the virtual keyboard to provide text input to the streaming media device.